Conor Gallagher is top all-round midfielder in Europe.. Chelsea considering selling speaks volumes of cash-obsessed club

CONOR GALLAGHER is the top-rated all-round midfielder in Europe.

Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino has always loved putting homegrown players at the heart of his teams.

GettyConor Gallagher has become an important player for Chelsea this season[/caption]

GettyChelsea are believed to be considering selling the midfielder[/caption]

So how on earth have the Blues got to the point where Gallagher’s future at Stamford Bridge is in doubt?

The answer, as ever with Chelsea, is complicated.

But it’s hard to think of many other top clubs – or any – that would find themselves in this position over such a key player.

According to Opta, only two midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues have registered 20 or more examples across a range of key performance statistics. 

One is Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold. The other is Gallagher.

And while everyone is raving about TAA’s evolving role, it is the Chelsea man who is delivering the most as a traditional midfielder.

Gallagher may not be able to match most of Alexander-Arnold’s attacking numbers. But he totally outstrips the Reds’ star in defensive contribution while still weighing in at the other end of the pitch.

Shots. Chances created. Dribbles completed. Touches in opposition box. Duels won. Tackles. Interceptions.

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You name it, Gallagher is doing it, over and over again in a mid-table side.

The graduate of the Blues’ Academy is out-performing Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, midfielders signed by the club for more than £200m last January.

The fact Gallagher is a youth-team product is of course central to the doubts about his future.

If Chelsea were to sell him in this transfer window, every penny would be profit because, as a homegrown player, his value for accounting purposes is zero.

Just as importantly, the entire fee would be registered in the Blues’ books this season for FFP purposes, even if the payments were spread over a number of years.

That would give Chelsea leeway to lay out more cash on a striker or other reinforcements in the coming weeks.

But it’s totally bizarre that a club that has spent more than £1billion since the Clearlake Capital-led takeover in 2022 should even be thinking about cashing in on Gallagher.

Not least because having a homegrown core is what Pochettino has always been about.

In his first major interview after becoming Southampton boss in 2013, Poch told SunSport: “I always knew, while I was playing, that my passion was for coaching, that I wanted to be a manager, and that when I became one I wanted to be able to give the same chance to young players that I had enjoyed. 

“I wanted to give my teams this ‘cultural touch’ of having home-made players, of the same nationality, it is something I have always liked. 

“It is something internal, in my DNA.”

Poch did it at Southampton and most notably Spurs, where Eric Dier, Dele Alli and Harry Kane were the spine of a side that twice challenged for the title.

Gallagher has frequently been the Blues’ captain under Poch this season despite the uncertainty about his future.

You also just know that Pochettino would also love to have worked with Mason Mount. Like Gallagher, Mount had been at Chelsea since he was a kid and was the latest poster boy for the Academy after playing the through ball from which Kai Havertz scored the goal that won the 2021 Champions League Final.

Yet for whatever reasons – and the club and Mount’s camp have very different accounts – there came a point where he had less than a year left on his contract.

Last summer’s £60m move to Manchester United suited all parties in the end.

GettyMauricio Pochettino has spoken to Gallagher about a move[/caption]

Gallagher’s current position, with less than 18 months left on his current deal, is similar but different. 

To lose one Academy star may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness. 

The Chelsea owners can legitimately say that the previous regime and takeover turmoil were to blame for the Mount situation. But the Gallagher conundrum is on them.

There are some encouraging noises about a new deal. While the relationship between Mount and Chelsea had completely broken down, it seems there is a genuine desire from both sides to try to find a solution.

But the statistics and Pochettino’s core beliefs mean it should be a no-brainer.

The fact that it isn’t, tells you a lot about Chelsea and modern football.

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